Get Real
by PadfootSawyer
Summary: Takes place during movie but no humans involved. Mumble finds out that his family is starving thanks to leopard seals. But why? He's determined to find out. My first fanfic ever and written a long time ago. I know it isn't written very well written.
1. Encounter

(_The scene opens when Mumble and the Amigos had just slid down the huge glacier of ice and "flew" if you will, into the ocean. With them came some chunks of ice and a bulldozer. No bulldozer falls out of the glacier and crashes into the ocean here… but something else awaits them._)

***

Excitement ran through Mumble like the northern lights run across the sky. He and his Amigos, the only penguins who'd ever accepted him for him alone, had been sliding down the largest glacier that Mumble had ever seen that remained attached to land. Now the ocean flew up to meet them at an alarming rate, but being penguins, they all looked forward to the rush of the water around them.

The next thing any of them knew, they had broken the surface of the water. The coldness wrapped itself around them and weaved through all of their feathers, sending pleasure and excitement dancing up their spines. That is… until Ramon bumped into a large gray object.

"Hey!" the object, which turned out to be a female leopard seal, exclaimed. All of the penguins froze as the leopard seal turned blazing eyes toward whoever had bumped into her. When she realized what had, her anger vanished and surprise along with excitement replaced it.

"Looks like my job's an easy one today," she remarked before beginning to chase them. Several of the Amigos swam toward the surface and managed to leap up to land… and safety.

Mumble, Ramon, and Lombardo, still in the water, tried to escape from the predator. Thoroughly enjoying herself, the seal continually blocked their escape at the very last moment.

Another penguin managed to escape onto land with the other three but the seal didn't mind. She had occupied herself by chasing the smaller of the two left in the water and would have him soon. It was now just a matter of time. Either his energy would expire or she'd catch him due to her speed.

The penguin suddenly swam up and turned away from her in hope of getting to land. Her body curved in preparation to catch her prey at last… until the larger of the two collided with her head.

She jerked her head down and brought a flipper up to rub the spot on her head that now throbbed with pain. She looked up and both of them were near the surface now. She roared in frustration and propelled herself toward them as quickly as she possibly could. They broke the surface only moments before she did.

She landed with a hard "thwack!" onto a ridge of ice. After groaning slightly, she opened her eyes to see blobs she knew as the penguins waddling away from her. After her vision cleared, she studied the largest of the six, committed his appearance to memory. Then she snorted and pushed herself back into the water.

Mumble glanced behind and didn't see the seal anywhere. She must've given up.

"You are one lucky penguin to have gotten away from two leopard seals in one day, Fluffy," Ramon told him.

"I know. You'd almost think that they were getting really desperate for just a taste of us," Mumble remarked. _As if they don't eat __**enough**__ of us every year_, he thought to himself bitterly.

"They probably are. That's why we are still running, amigo," Nester said.

Mumble glanced once more in the direction of the sea. Two seals, two narrow escapes. Both of the seals alone and in the same general area. Had both of his unfortunate run-ins been complete coincidences?


	2. Banished

(_At this point, all of the Amigos would go see Lovelace. I personally don't see a need for that character in this story. Robin Williams, naturally, exceeded all expectations as Lovelace. However, I just don't need him. But, just because I don't mention him doesn't mean that he doesn't exist. Anyway, I'm going to push the "fast-forward" button a little bit here. Mumble does return to all the other emperor penguins and they all get down with them bad selves with Mumble's mad dance moves. Sure, Gloria can fall for him, but I don't wanna play that scene out since I don't change anything all that would need changing is dialogue, really. No "aliens" but Mumble can know it's "something beyond the ice." Now, Noah and the Elders __do__ banish Mumble and the Amigos because of the famine. Remember; Memphis tells Mumble to leave or change and that has a pretty big effect on Mumble. Gloria and Norma Jean try to make him stay but the other penguins won't have it. We now return to where Mumble is walking with the Amigos, passing a rock from penguin to penguin like a hockey puck, and wondering what comes next._)

***

"Don't worry," Ramon told Mumble encouragingly. "My father also called me a pathetic loser, and look how I turned out."* To prove his point and add a splash of emphasis, he raised his flippers into the air.

Rinaldo rolled his eyes and said, "You're not helping, Ramon."*

"So, what are you going to do now?" asked another. Mumble glanced up at the horizon, considering the question. Something suddenly hit his foot, causing him to jump and look down quickly at what had hit him.

It was the rock that they had found a little ways back and had just kept with them, kicking it to one another. Mumble studied it now instead of the horizon, still wondering what would come next for an emperor penguin that had no home to go to. The rock leaned toward the small side as far as rocks went, smooth on one side and rough on the other but the entire thing a solitary dull grey.

It reminded him of the leopard seals that he had encountered yesterday. The seals! If the penguins had trouble finding food lately, maybe the seals were suffering too. That would explain both seals' eagerness to make a meal out of him _and_ why they had hunted near the same area. If the seals had a food shortage, maybe Mumble and the seals could work together to find more food. The seals knew the ocean better than anyone, except whales… but Mumble thought he'd have a better chance of meeting a leopard seal. Besides, killer whales far surpassed leopard seals in size and Mumble would rather take his chances with something that was smaller than – and not as fast as – a whale.

But how would he find out if the seals' desperation for food had reached the penguins level? He'd never stand a chance holding a conversation with any one of them. But he could _spy_ on them. Yeah! How could they catch and eat him if they didn't know he was there? When he pitched his idea to the Amigos, they went ballistic. They told Mumble that he suffered from momentary insanity, that his plan would never work, and he'd never return home.

"But, amigos, I have no home to return to," Mumble pointed out. When he saw that they silently considered his words, he decided to continue. "Think! If our fish supply is down, theirs must be too. I'm not saying we talk to them about this. None of us would make it out of the water alive if we did that. I'm just suggesting that when we find another leopard seal, we follow them and see if they're getting enough to eat." The Amigos agreed after silently communicating through glances, but none of them really looked forward to when that would happen.

The penguins continued to walk, discussing many things and not paying attention to their direction. Soon, they stood in the middle of nowhere and none of them knew how to return someplace they at least _recognized_. Since the sun had already set, they all huddled together and fell asleep, deciding they needed light to find something.

The six of them started to enjoy the easy life, not one of them the least bit concerned about returning to the place they had once called home. They hunted for fish whenever they came across water and usually managed to catch a few, though not enough to satisfy the growing monster in their stomachs. Mumble also kept on the look-out for leopard seals, but there were less of them than fish. Why did it always seem to go that when you want to find something, you never can, but when you don't want to find it, it shows up? The Amigos didn't care about finding seals, in fact they would much rather have forgotten the entire ordeal that Mumble had suggested. In order to help with this, they messed around, telling jokes, singing every now and then, and dancing with Mumble on occasion.

One night, they had all fallen asleep on the ice when the ground shifted violently, causing all of them to wake abruptly.

"What…?" They heard the ice crack dangerously around them and the ground vibrated, cutting Raul short. The moon hung in the sky nothing more than a slit; it therefore didn't shed too much light. Mumble's mind began to turn over a few questions, such as: why was the ice breaking? Because of a predator or because ice naturally cracks and breaks apart?

Mumble forgot these questions in the next second as the patch of ice they stood on broke away from the rest. Had they really fallen asleep that far out on the ice? Apparently.

"What do we do now?" Nester asked.

Mumble answered after a bit of quick-thinking, "Well, now we wait for light. Once we have it, we can swim back to solid ice."

"So, we have to wait the darkness out?" Raul asked.

"Yes," Mumble told him, not much liking the idea himself but trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice.

Lombardo's voice rose up out of the darkness. "I hope we can wait for light instead of going to see THE light." That remark reminded Mumble of an instant from his past.

Mumble recalled the first leopard seal he'd had the displeasure of meeting and how he'd sat on a berg when they'd first met. He almost caught Mumble too. He didn't like recalling the thin lines on his tail where the feathers had been involuntarily torn out by the seal's razor sharp teeth. Just remembering the whole experience made him nervous – even scared – to remain on the ice flow.

For one crazy moment, he had a strange urge to leap into the water and swim for land as quickly as he could. The Amigos would probably follow him but demand an explanation later. And what would he tell them? That he was afraid to go on icebergs? They lived in a place where ice wasn't exactly scarce. And he, Mumble an emperor penguin, afraid of it? Even just thinking about it sounded stupid, out loud only called for disaster. He'd follow through on what he had said earlier, though he knew waiting through the night would nearly kill him.

But as soon as morning came, he would high-tail it out of there as fast as he could.


	3. Goodbye

Mumble was the only one left on the ice flow. The Amigos swam beneath, waiting for him to join. Each one of them had come up with a creative way to enter the ocean. They also all tried to out perform the one before them.

When the sun had climbed into the sky earlier that morning, the Amigo's fear and their cautiousness had disappeared together. Mumble, although relieved to be able to see what lay around him, still held on to his caution because he knew that when he released it, something would happen; and most likely something bad. But he could risk a creative little trick to join his friends… and show them that his performance could out do their's any day.

He leaped high into the air, managed two flips, and then dove into the ocean hardly creating a splash he had landed so straight. The Amigos all cheered for him and then started arguing on who had done the best. Mumble put in his opinions as well and the six friends started swimming for land. Suddenly, all of them felt that another animal had joined them in the water. They stopped in unison and turned to see what or who it was.

Before them a leopard seal glided through the water, totally unaware of their presence. Mumble started to get excited while the Amigos felt nothing but dread. Mumble would surely want to follow the seal now and being anywhere remotely close to a leopard seal in water made them nervous. They felt fine on land because they could outdistance the seal by walking. In water, though, it was a slightly different story.

"Amigos, we need to follow that seal," Mumble said.

"I was afraid you were going to say somethin' like that," Rinaldo said, trembling slightly.

"Let's go back up onto the ice for a bit to get as much air as we can. We'll need to follow this seal 'till he stops somewhere, and goodness knows how long that will take. Come on." With that, Mumble began to swim toward the ice once more. They all returned to land for only a short time, but long enough for someone to find Mumble.

***

(_OK, I didn't feel I could do anything to this scene or even change a bit of it. This would be when Mumble and the Amigos find out that Gloria has been following them. This scene is brilliant from the cute, tender moments between Gloria and Mumble to the hysterical remarks of the Amigos. It all ends with Mumble sending Gloria back to the other emperor penguins in not exactly a nice way. The Amigos tell him that what he did was good and also try to cheer him up with a song, to which Mumble replies, "Please, now more singing."* This next scene picks up right from there_)

***

Mumble dove into the water, hoping to forget Gloria as the water rushed around him. He heard splashes behind him, but he didn't look back. Pain engulfed him for having to drive her away, but he knew she'd never be happy with him always on the move since he had no specific home. He suddenly caught sight of the leopard seal they'd seen before It had nearly disappeared into the deep blue of the ocean but Mumble could tell it was a seal by the way it swam. The perfect chance for Mumble to put his plan in motion. He began to follow the seal when Ramon swam in front of him.

"Don't hold it in or you'll esplode." Mumble knew that Ramon meant his feelings on sending Gloria away. "You let it out. Just let it out!"*

"Please, not now." He started to go around Ramon when the rest of the Amigos collected in front of him.

"Amigos! Let me go."

"Let you go where?"

"Do you mean figuratively…"

"Or literally?"

"Let it out!"*

"Are you going to go get Gloria?"

"Are you going to sing?" All the Amigos became silent for a second before all exclaiming, "NO!" at the same time. Then they started to imitate Mumble's singing and Mumble felt an unexpected urge of sadness.

He knew his Amigos would never go with him. They had too much fear for leopard seals. From now on, Mumble would act and live completely alone. Being banished from his family had been bearable because of the five of them. Now… it truly had become Mumble against the world. The realization made him stop and really enjoy listening to his only friends in the world… even if they were teasing him. After he couldn't remember how long, he shook himself and knew he _had_ to go.

"Amigos," Mumble said gently. They all stopped and looked at him, their gazes full of respect and attentiveness. That only made it harder for Mumble to get out what needed to be said. "I need to see if the seals are starving too. Wish me luck and tell my Ma that I love her. Keep an eye on Gloria and tell Pa that I tried."** Then he swam over them and started toward the almost invisible dot that was the leopard seal. Actually, if he didn't know where to look, he would never have seen the seal. He then remembered something and turned back to look at them.

"Thanks for being there for me when I had no one." The next thing the Amigos knew, Mumble swam away, and they all thought similarly; that they would never see him again.


	4. Teri

Mumble could hardly stand it. He had to drive Gloria away _and_ say good-bye to his best friends all in one day. His thoughts chased one another in circles as he continued to follow the seal. Occasionally, Mumble went up for air and he saw solid ice as just a steady but thin line to his left, and ice bergs floated by every now and then but this general area remained pretty empty of them.

The seal kept a pretty steady pace and path; they'd taken no turns so far. Mumble started getting bored of following, when the seal took an abrupt left turn behind an ice berg of reasonable size. Mumble debated whether to still follow the seal or not. He quickly decided to continue for he may never have another opportunity to follow a seal.

He rounded the ice berg… and stopped. Where had the seal gone? Mumble glanced up and wondered if he'd gone on top of the berg. Only one way to find out. Mumble started to swim up when something collided with him, knocking him into the ice, and whatever it was kept him pinned there. Mumble brought his eyes down only to see the female leopard seal that had almost caught him before, her face only a few inches from his.

She smiled a little and said, "You escaped last time, Feathers, but I won't let you do that again."

Mumble managed to get only one sentence out, "How did you know I was following you?"

"Oh, get real," the seal told him, rolling her eyes, "I heard you and your friends talking as I swam away." When Mumble gave her an amazed unbelieving look, she just told him, "We leopard seals have excellent hearing Anyway, back to business."

Mumble got a close-up view of the inside of her mouth before squeaking out, "Please! Please don't eat me!"

The leopard seal paused, closed her mouth, and gave Mumble an incredulous look. No one had said that one word to her before; please. Amazing the wonders one word could work. Intrigued, she lowered her flipper and thereby released her prey.

"Why shouldn't I eat you?" The penguin started to go into detail about how he and his family were starving and a bunch of other blabber that caused the seal to sigh with boredom.

She held up a flipper and said, "I don't wanna hear a sob story, OK? I just wanna know why I should let such a delicious meal go."

"Because we could help each other," Mumble said lamely. The seal gave him the all-too-famous "are you serious?" look.

"Yeah, see, you could help me with the food problem us penguins are dealing with and I could…um… I could…" Mumble searched his thoughts thoroughly but nothing came up. He closed his mouth in defeat, which had remained open so he could express his thoughts aloud. The seal snorted.

"That seems to be the only problem, hu? That I could help you out but you couldn't do anything for me. Unless it involves singing."

"What?"

"Don't pretend that you don't know what I'm talkin' about. All the leopard seals in the area can hear you penguins singing all the time. Especially when you come out to the sea and sing through out the night atop ice bergs." Mumble remembered traveling with all the other penguins and doing just that. He now followed the seal with his eyes. She swam around him, making complicated turns and propelling herself on her back using her flippers.

"That annoys an awful lot of seals. You guys keep us up all night and the songs you sing get stuck in our heads for days, sometimes weeks. Some of you are very talented, though, I'm forced to admit.

"OK, deal."

Mumble shook himself and asked, "OK? Deal, what deal?"

"Oh boy. Must I spell it out for you? Guess so. All right, I'll let you live and help you with your little food whatever and you can teach me songs and be my singing coach. What d'ya say?"

Mumble, of course, couldn't sing to save his life… but he had to do so now. No other way out of this presented itself and Mumble had nothing else to offer. He couldn't exactly teach a leopard seal to dance since they had no feet. Maybe he could delay singing until he'd found more food then he could leave and avoid singing all together. But that wasn't honest. He'd cross that bridge when he came to it.

Until then, "It's a deal."

The seal smiled and said, "Deal. Follow me." The two of them started to swim together when the seal stopped abruptly.

"I'm not gonna call you 'penguin' and 'feathers' will get old and lose it's effect. So you might as well tell me your name."

"Mumble." She gave him a weird look before shrugging and continuing her swim. Mumble waited but she didn't say anything more. If Mumble had given his name, wasn't she going to give hers? Apparently not without an invitation.

"Hey! I want to know your name too!" Mumble swam the short distance so he hovered next to her and waited. She gave him a side-ways glance before smiling a little.

"Teri."

Mumble kept close to Teri for she lead him through foreign waters. Here, the temperature seemed to drop with every propel forward, and more ice bergs floated here than Mumble had ever seen in all his life. Some were of pretty good size while others wouldn't support an egg. Teri moved smoothly through the water, her body curving gracefully to get around the various sizes of ice bergs. Mumble would've been happy to just sit and watch her but he kept up, not nearly as gracefully, though.

According to Teri, they were heading toward her home. She'd explained to Mumble as they swam that a leopard seal and emperor penguin swimming together and not attacking or swimming away in a hurry was weird enough, but if anyone ever _saw_ them helping one another, both of their lives would be ruined. So she was going to let him live with her, that way they could help one another but not be seen.

Suddenly, Teri held up a flipper, signaling for him to stop. He obeyed as she swam up to and around an ice berg in front of them. It loomed before them both, dwarfing almost everything around it. He came out of his thoughts as Teri swam back to him.

"All right, this is my home. Whenever I leave, you are not to set flipper off of this berg. Understood?" Mumble nodded as he rose to the surface to get a better look at Teri's domain.

The ice berg appeared pretty stable, mostly white rising into a hill at the top with blue showing through caverns in the ice.

Mumble observed Teri as she swam to the other side. He had just made the turn around the berg in time to see her climb up into a cavern and followed close behind. The cavern could've fit his Amigos, his parents, Gloria, and him comfortably, so there was more than enough room for Teri, who curled into a crescent moon shape, apparently planning to nap. Realizing his own fatigue, Mumble tucked his beak next to his wing just as he heard Teri sigh in contentment. He dozed off quickly without another thought.


	5. Two Weeks Later

Two weeks later…

Mumble couldn't shake the feeling that today Teri would discover that he couldn't sing. He'd been able to put it off for sometime and just got to know Teri, not as a vicious killer but as a friend. She'd never judged him by his appearance and had instead gotten to know him by his character. Both of them liked each other, though neither one of them would admit it, especially Teri.

A splash made Mumble jump and cautiously peer out of the cavern. He saw no movement and that made him nervous. Teri occasionally had visitors and she'd slide into the water to see to the other leopard seal while keeping Mumble and her reputation safe at the same time. But Teri wasn't here now. So if a leopard seal leaped into the cavern to wait for Teri, Mumble would become a pleasant yet unexpected snack.

He couldn't die now. Teri still had to help him with his starving family. Mumble kept thinking that Teri had either forgotten or had not kept her word. Either way, she kept Mumble well fed. When Teri disappeared from day to day, she'd always return with two or three fish for him. It had made itself obvious that the seals weren't starving as all appeared well-fed, even if Mumble had only seen glimpses. The question of why Teri and the other leopard seal Mumble had met earlier had been so desperate to catch Mumble that day so long ago had yet to bring forth any answers.

Suddenly, a large splash sounded as a huge grey mass with brown spots leapt up toward him. Seeing the leopard seal, Mumble fell over backwards and pressed himself against the back of the ice, shaking slightly and raising his flippers in front of his face. When he felt no teeth, he opened one eye and lowered his flippers slightly.

There stood Teri, grinning down at him around his dinner; three fish.

Mumble released a sigh as he dropped his flippers to his side and said, "Teri! You enjoy frightening me, don't you?"

Teri dropped the fish at his feet and responded, "Yep. You scare too easily, Mumble, and I can't help myself."

"Well, I'm glad I'm such and amusement for you." Teri's smile broadened as she lay down, watching Mumble eat his dinner.

As he grabbed the last fish, she asked, "So, are you ready?"

Mumble, taken aback at her asking him a question so suddenly with his mouthful started choking on his fish, which had managed to become stuck half-way down his throat. Teri rolled her eyes and thumped Mumble on the back with her tail. The fish flopped out and bounced once or twice on the ice before coming to rest at the back of the cavern.

"Smooth," Teri remarked.

"Ready for what?" Mumble asked, eagerly wanting to get back to the original question.

"For the help I promised to give you with your whole… starvation thing."

Mumble stared up at her, unable to comprehend what she said.

"You – You're going to help me?"

"Of course, I said that I would. Did you think I'd forgotten – or worse – not kept my word?" Instead of blurting out the truth, Mumble considered his actions before speaking.

He knew Teri wouldn't be angry at his assumptions, but she could be hurt by Mumble's distrust; no matter how short lived it had been. But he had to say _something_ or else Teri would draw her own conclusions… if she hadn't already.

"I didn't know what to think. I've just kept waiting."

"All right then. Let's go and I can explain why it took so long for me to help you while we swim." Teri pushed herself backwards and fell with a loud splash. Forgetting about the almost eaten fish still lying alone behind him, Mumble walked toward the edge of the cavern and flipped into the water.

"Nice," Teri said, smiling slightly. Then they began to swim away side by side.


	6. Family

Norma Jean walked up to Gloria and both of them shared a small smile. Both wondered where Mumble had gone to, but kept their thoughts to themselves. It had been two weeks and by now both assumed the worst.

"Where's Memphis?" Gloria asked politely, eager to get her mind off Mumble and the fact she's probably never see him again. Norma Jean's face became even sadder than before and Gloria immediately wished she hadn't asked.

"Well, he… umm… It's better if you see for yourself." Gloria followed Norma Jean close behind, a knot forming in her stomach. Of all of them, Memphis had taken Mumble's expedition the hardest. Gloria thought it was guilt from when Memphis told Mumble to change or leave… but she had only assumed.

The Amigos popped up out of nowhere, forcing Gloria and Norma Jean to pause in their walk. They had grown so used to the Amigos crazy antics that they no longer jumped, regardless of what they did. It had taken them at least a week to expect insaneness from all of them.

"Where are you going, chica?" one of them asked. How Mumble had told any of them apart was beyond Gloria. She just knew them as the Amigos and when she wanted one, she had to call all of them or risk the embarrassment of _still_ not knowing their names.

"We're going to go see Memphis, boys," Norma Jean told them. _Nicely done_, thought Gloria. Norma Jean always got away with not knowing them by their individual names. She instead referred to them as the "boys." So far her tactics had worked.

"Can we come?" one asked.

Gloria, after glancing and making sure this didn't bother Norma Jean, shrugged. "Sure. Why not?" Norma Jean lead them to a large cave supported by pillars of ice, and walked down a slope of snow to see… nothing.

"Where is he?" one of Mumble's friends wondered. Gloria had wondered the same thing. Frozen aqua blue ice surrounded them, curving gracefully around and extending on all sides, creating the cave. Nothing really out of the ordinary, and certainly no Memphis.

"Follow me," Norma Jean remarked quietly, wandering toward one of the pillars. The Amigos glanced at one another before following directions. Gloria followed them.

As they rounded the pillar, they saw Memphis. He looked... sad. No other word could describe the look on his face right now. Memphis and Norma Jean had sort of become her parents since her own didn't support her love for Mumble. Seeing him exposed like this frightened her more than words could say. But she had to find out the source of the emotion. Maybe then she could help him out in some way.

"Memphis is everything okay?* - Are _you_ okay?" she asked tenderly.

Memphis sighed and looked up at her, his emotion magnified tenfold in his eyes.

"It's all my fault that Mumble is gone."

"No it's not, amigo. Mumble wanted to go on his own."

"No one can persuade Fluffy to do anything after he's decided to do it."

"If we of all penguins know that, then you should."

"Yeah, especially considering that he is your son."

"Let out your emotions or you will esplode. Just let it out!!"**

Memphis just looked at the Amigos, a small amount of happiness creeping back in his eyes, but still drowned out by the sorrow dwelling there. "But I… I told him to change who he was and I now know that he could never do that. He never _should_. There was nothing wrong with him."

Gloria and Norma Jean glanced at one another, each understanding where Memphis was coming from. They likewise felt that they had also helped in driving Mumble away.

"Memphis, it's okay. I think I helped out too. I never truly loved Mumble until I saw that he could sing with his feet. I should've just loved him for who he was and not shunned him because he was a little different."

"This won't help things," an Amigo said. The three emperor penguins looked down at them.

"Mumble has gone to find the fish for all of us," another pointed out. "If he didn't love us so much then why is he out there right now taking care of our fish problem?"

"Nestor has a point. Mumble is doing all of this for us, not to try and resurrect himself."

"Let's just support him even while he's gone."

"It will comfort him greatly when we see him again and tell him that we always believed in him."

The emperor penguins met each others eyes, and they all knew the Amigos were right.

Still, they all hoped that Mumble would return. That hope had begun to dwindle, though, as more days had passed. Ramon wandered away from the group, and walked out into the sunshine unknown to the others.

"Fluffy," he said, looking up into the clear blue sky, as endless as the ocean, "wherever you are, come back soon. Not only for your father, but for all of us. We miss you, amigo."


	7. Explanation

"Well, where to begin?" Teri wondered aloud. Mumble shrugged in response and went up to get another breath of air.

"I guess I'll start from the first day we met," Teri continued when Mumble returned.

"I had been looking for a penguin for lunch. Samson, the seal you met before me, had been doing the same only about two or three hours earlier. Not only that, but leopard seals were trying various parts of the ice for any type of penguin in order to see if our plan had started to work yet."

"What plan?" Mumble asked, not really sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

"Don't rush me. I'm getting there. Now, where was I? - Oh yes! Well, many of us leopard seals hadn't eaten much penguin, so you all became somewhat of a delicacy. Therefore we came up with this crazy idea where we'd block off your food source and that would make you come down to the ocean to look for more food. Then we'd feast."

Here, Teri went up for a breath of air and Mumble joined her, thinking she'd finished the story. He began to think of what he could possibly do to stop the seals and get his fish back when Teri dove once more. Mumble quickly followed and was surprised when Teri continued the story, putting his plans on temporary hold.

"We've successfully starved you at least, but not many penguins have been bold enough to come down to the ocean… or at least not to the areas where we were waiting, which is really unfortunate." Mumble looked at Teri in horror. She was floating through the water on her back, and when she saw Mumble's expression, she rolled her eyes.

"Oh come on! You all would go to any lengths to feed your families and we aren't doing any different."

"Except it's not _for_ your families. You are all doing this for _yourselves_."

"Pretty much." Teri circled Mumble, saying, "Survival of the fittest, right?"

The two of them swam in silence for a while, Teri doing some fancy acrobatics as if she didn't care that she was killing so many penguins. But then it occurred to Mumble that she probably didn't. She had to eat other animals in order to survive, like the penguins with the fish. Who knew? Maybe he had eaten a father of a fish family and now they'd never see him again. But there was nothing else for him to eat, so Teri's phrase of "survival of the fittest" became true for the first time in Mumble's eyes.

"Aren't you the least but curious why it took me so long to bring you to see our plan in action?" asked Teri, breaking the silence. Mumble shrugged.

"Sure. Why did it take you so long, Teri?"

"I thought you'd never ask. Stop."

Mumble did as Teri looked back at him and whispered, "Be quiet and follow me like a shadow." Mumble noticed for the first time the huge ice berg in front of them. Well, he guessed it really didn't count as an ice berg since it was still attached to land, but that didn't minimize its size.

Teri swam up to it and poked her head around its side. Mumble copied her and saw three leopard seals swimming back and forth, as if on patrol. Suddenly, a school of fish – the regular meal of penguins – swam out of the blue, toward the seals. One leopard seal stopped as the others continued on their guard. The seal that had stopped lunged toward the fish, grabbing one and frightening the rest away.

_That's_ how the seals were doing it. Patrolling and cutting off all the fish's entrances.

"It took us awhile to locate all the places the fish came in, but once we covered all of 'em, we set our plan into motion. As you've probably guessed, all this planning alone took us years. It started before I was born for sure. But our strike has been long, hard, and deadly… though we _are _eating pretty well.

"Now let's get outta here before someone catches us together." Teri turned and swam away at lightening speed. She didn't even give Mumble time to react. He turned and saw her trail of bubbles, which he quickly followed. But he was running out of air. He broke the surface, gasping… but then froze.

Leopard seals lay asleep on top of a close-by berg. Mumble had been able to stand seals when accompanied by Teri because he knew she'd protect him, but here now – alone – Mumble felt fear wash over him. Without making any loud noises, he slowly started to back away. The tiny splashes he made could've been mistaken for water lapping against ice.

None of the seals stirred as Mumble continued his retreat.

Confident that he had escaped, Mumble sighed and turned around, planning to dive and return to Teri's home. But something grabbed his foot, causing him to gasp – he knew better than to yell – as he was yanked under water. He quickly turned his head to see that his attacker was none other than Teri.

"Teri? What are you…?" Teri cut him off by shutting his beak with her flippers.

"Mumble! What were you thinking lingering in the leopard seal territory? Most of these seals would kill each other just for a bite of you. Don't you know you could've been killed?" Mumble didn't say anything. Part of that was because Teri still held his beak shut but the other part came from shock at Teri's anger.

But when he thought about it, the anger wasn't genuine. In reality, she felt frightened because… because she nearly lost _him_. Realizing this, Mumble smiled slightly, causing Teri to stop talking of danger and how foolish he had been and release him.

"Why are you smiling?"

"No reason."

"Look, you can't just smile for no reason." When Mumble didn't offer any further explanation, Teri sighed.

"OK, whatever. Let's go home."

As they swam, Mumble could see that he's received what he wanted. He'd been accepted for him, first with the Amigos and now with Teri. But how ironic that a leopard seal of all things had given him what he'd yearned for since he'd hatched? And what could he give her? He'd promised singing lessons but that could never happen. Guilt came forth and Mumble, deciding to tell Teri the truth, swam ahead of her.

As he's planned, she stopped and Mumble quickly blurted out before he decided not to tell her at all, "Teri, I can't sing for the life of me. I feel horrible not telling you earlier, especially since that was my end of the deal. But, I thought you deserved to know." As if to emphasize what he'd just admitted, he repeated, "I can't sing."

Teri replied with a simple, "I know."

"What? H – ho – how did you know?" Mumble stammered.

"When you and your little penguin friends were on top of that iceberg singing the night away so long ago, I heard a screech that still haunts me to this day. Then all the penguins shouted, 'Mumble!' and I had, at the time, assumed that had been the source of the haunting noise, and I was correct. So, as soon as I knew your name, I knew this was no longer a deal, but a favor. You're welcome." Without anything further, Teri swam around him and leapt up into her home, which they'd reached without Mumble noticing.

Mumble remained in the water, too stunned to speak. Teri knew she'd get nothing in return for helping him and yet she still had. Only then did Mumble fully understand the friend he'd obtained and how precious their friendship had become.

Feeling elated and truly happy – which he hadn't felt since he'd been banished from Emperorland – he leapt up into Teri's home, all set for a nap.

He found a surprise waiting for him… and it wasn't a pleasant one.


	8. Memphis' Regrets

_Mumble swam through the water, just after driving Gloria back to the other emperor penguins. He felt horrible but knew this was best for her. She'd never be happy searching for a leopard seal to follow. Not to mention after they found one, following it until Kingdom come._

_He suddenly caught sight of one in the distance and knew his moment had come. He turned to his Amigos, who had followed him into the water. He longed to bring them with… but this was his battle. It was too dangerous besides._

"_Amigos, I need to see if the seals are starving too. Wish me luck and tell my Ma I love her. Keep an eye on Gloria and tell Pa that I tried."** He swam off a little ways before glancing back at them._

"_Thanks for being there for me when I had no one." Then he swam off into the deep blue of the ocean._

_He swam far enough away so the seal didn't know he was there but close enough so he could still see the seal. The seal made an abrupt left behind an ice berg and Mumble quickly followed._

_The seal was nowhere in sight when he reached his destination and Mumble glanced all around before seeing a shadow out of the corner of his eye. He glanced down to see the leopard seal beneath him, swimming toward him full-force._

_Not knowing what else to do, he swam up, toward the surface of the water. He broke the surface, the seal inches behind him. They landed on the ice hard. Mumble slid a ways before coming to a stop and staying still. He couldn't move even if he wanted to._

_Something turned him over so he lie on his back now. When he opened his eyes, he saw the leopard seal over him, teeth flashing in the sun. He gave a sigh of disappointment. Now he'd never find out if the seals were starving too. The seal opened its mouth wide and came straight for Mumble's head… _

Memphis woke breathing heavily. He glanced around, but only saw the emperor penguins sleeping all around him. Gloria, Norma Jean, and Mumble's Amigos slept soundly nearest to him.

Memphis breathed a sigh of relief. _Just a dream_, he told himself.

_Really_? said a voice in the back of his head. _Maybe Mumble really __did__ die that way_. _How would you know_? _You abandoned him just like everyone else_.

Not for the first time, or certainly the last, a tear rolled down his cheek. He missed his boy so much that it physically hurt. He looked up to the sky and saw a shooting star.

Memphis whispered his wish so as not to awake his family. He knew they were exhausted from marching all day across frozen landscapes.

"I wish to see my boy again, even if it's just a glance. That way I can know he's all right, and apologize for being so horrible to him."


	9. Ethan

Mumble saw that a leopard seal smaller than Teri sat near the back of the cavern. It was obvious they'd been talking since the annoyed look on Teri's face didn't go away and Mumble hadn't done anything yet.

"Hey! Dinner's here! We'll continue talking later, all right doll face?" If looks could kill, this male leopard seal would've been dead several times over from the look Teri gave him when he had said, "doll face." He lunged for Mumble the next moment, huge white teeth coming straight for his head. Mumble backed away quickly, but he had nothing to worry about. Teri stood in front of him before anything could've happened.

"Don't you dare touch him," she said slowly and dangerously. Mumble peeked out from around Teri so he could see the male seal.

The leopard seal looked incredulously at Teri as he rose to his normal height.

"Why can't I touch him?" Teri didn't respond but the other seal just studied her without saying anything himself. He obviously wasn't going to say anything until Teri did. She sighed.

"Why do you think, Ethan? It's not that hard to figure out. Although it could be hard for you, who knows?" Ethan shook his head, not wanting to believe the relationship he had just caught on to.

"Teri, get real. He's a penguin. He's food. He's not a _friend_. That defies all laws of nature, and it's weird besides. He's probably pretty useless, too. Am I right?" Teri opened her mouth to say something, but Mumble stepped in front of her, cutting her off.

"I'm not completely useless, though I admit Teri does most of the hard work. Anyway, watch this." He started to dance. He hadn't danced in weeks and it felt wonderful to do so once more. He poured all of the emotions he'd kept locked up into his movements and that made the dance all the better.

When he stopped, silence surrounded him.

Then Teri said in amazement, "Mumble, where did you learn to do that?" He looked up at her.

"We sing to show how we feel. But, I can't sing, as you now know, so I let my emotion show this way. All the other penguins taunt me for not being able to sing and it eventually got me banished from my home." Teri gave him an empathetic look and Mumble wanted to ask what had happened to her, but Ethan cut in.

"Back to the conversation. No matter how amazing or awesome that may be, that doesn't change the fact that he's a penguin."

"Ethan," Teri said, turning furious eyes toward him, "get out."

"But Teri," he pleaded, "I've got to make you see that this is not normal so you'll return to being a leopard seal."

"I will not tell you again. GET OUT." Ethan looked down at Mumble then back up to Teri.

When he saw she wasn't going to change her mind he said, "Fine. Just give me some room."

Both Teri and Mumble pressed themselves against an ice wall; they didn't need telling twice. Ethan made his way out, but when he came to the entrance, he glanced back at the two friends.

"It won't do you any good, Teri. Soon, he'll be the only one of his kind alive. They're marching to the ocean, just like we planned for so many years. Later today, we'll be feasting like no leopard seal clan has feasted before. See you later, hot stuff." Then Ethan slid into the water and splashed away.

Both Teri and Mumble stayed unmoving and silent for some time, each lost in their own thoughts.

Finally, Teri said, "I guess you'd better go and try to stop your family, and the other emperor penguins from coming to the ocean." Mumble looked up and seriousness covered Teri's face. She wasn't joking around or being sarcastic.

"But, Teri, what about your feast? I mean, I don't wanna see any of the penguins go, but you love to eat penguin, and I want you to have what you love."

"Yeah, well, I guess becoming friends with one was more enjoyable. Not to mention it lasts longer." Both friends fell silent once more, each smiling at the other. Teri, again, broke the silence.

"Come on. We'd better get a move on. I'll escort you so no one will eat you before you can warn everybody."

With nothing more said, both of them pushed themselves into the water and began their long journey. They said the very minimal and stayed near the surface so they were farther from danger, if it came, and didn't have far to go when they needed more air. Teri refrained from her normal underwater activity, acrobats and such, and Mumble stayed in the straightest line he possibly could. Both were more concerned with speed but Mumble knew Teri held herself back in speed so she and Mumble could travel together. True to her word; she was protecting him.

But Teri had nothing to worry about. They swam through oddly empty waters during the whole journey.

When nearly there, Mumble stopped abruptly, causing Teri to stop as well since Mumble was in the lead and Teri didn't know where he lived after all.

"The ice is moving ahead," he told her, pointing to objects in the water before them. They were undistinguishable to Mumble merely because of the distance.

Teri squinted and, when recognizing the shapes, whispered, "Oh, no."

"What?"

"It's not the ice. They are leopard seals; all of them in this region. They all are here for the same thing we are; only they don't plan on telling your family in advance.

"We need to swim by without any of them seeing you. I could fend off two, or even three, but this is… just not going to happen."

"How about we swim around all of them?" Mumble suggested. They were wasting time and he didn't have a lot of it to start with.

"I don't know. They will be able to see us unless we swim to the left for a long time and then to the right, for the same amount of time once we were sure we were past all of them. As you've probably found out, leopard seals have a great sense of eyesight. By the time we found your family, it would be impossible to warn all of them in time." Both fell silent, thinking about how much time remained on their side and how to avoid every one of the leopard seals.

"I think we'll have to swim _under_ them," Teri said softly, more to herself than to Mumble.

"How? We'd have to swim down really deep since leopard seals have great eyesight. We'd run out of air only halfway through our dive."

"Who says we have to go deep?"

Mumble looked at Teri, an incredulous look painted on his face. "Weren't you listening?"

"No, hear me out. They're all looking up for the penguins and all around for intruders. There's no reason _why_ they'd look down at all. But in case they do, _you'll_ be swimming under _me_ so all they will see is another leopard seal, who is one of them." Desperation had consumed Mumble and this plan was the only one that made any sense. Besides, it was well thought-out and it interested Mumble to see what would happen.

"Let's do it. We've got nothing better and I _need_ to warn my family." So that's what they did.

Neither of them made any sounds as they approached and then glided beneath all the seals. But the seals were too so excited and all of them watched the ice so intently it wouldn't have mattered if Teri and Mumble had swam right through the gathering side by side.

As soon as they were clear of the seals, not only from under them but a safe way off so as not to attract too much attention, Mumble and Teri went up for a breath of air before traveling under the ice to try and find Mumble's family. They didn't have to go far.

When the black and white birds came into view, Teri constructed a seal breathing hole some ways in front of them.

Before going to warn his family, Mumble turned to Teri. This would probably be the last time they'd ever see one another. He wanted to say something meaningful and memorable but he'd only gotten out, "Teri…" when Teri cut him off by nuzzling him.

"I'll miss you, Feathers. Take care of yourself, OK?"

"I'll miss you too, Teri. Thank you for everything."

"Just go. Save your family, friends, and enemies, you little hero."

Mumble shot her one last smile before jumping through the hole and landing in front of all the emperor penguins.


	10. Reunion

"What's holding us up?" Memphis asked a near-by penguin.

"You got me. I've no idea."

"I know what it is now," said another penguin, who sounded extremely annoyed. All the penguins anywhere close enough to hear him, turned to listen, eagerly awaiting the reason as to why they'd stopped going toward the ocean, and food.

"It's that tap-dancing penguin who could never sing. Oh, what was his name? Bumble? Fumble?"

"Mumble?" Memphis, Norma Jean, Gloria, and the Amigos all said in unison, none of them believing it.

"Yeah, Mumble! That's it." Mumble's family glanced at one another, all too happy to say anything. They began to walk toward the front where Noah and the Elders stood.

As the last few penguins moved to grant them passage, Mumble's fuzzy feathers peeked through the small gaps between the Elders. The Amigos were the first to lose control of their emotions.

"Fluffy!"

"Mumble!" They ran up to him; being small, they were able to get through the wall the Elders had formed with minimal complications.

"Amigos!" Mumble – it couldn't be anyone else, he really _was_ back – sounded happy, excited, and even a little surprised. "Ramon! Lombardo! Nester! Rinaldo! Raul! How are you guys? I've missed you all so much."

"Mumble!" Norma Jean exclaimed, no longer able to stand by and do nothing. She stepped up to her boy through the gap the Elders created for her with Memphis and Gloria close behind.

"Ma?!" Mumble's head snapped up, his eyes shining with happiness.

"My boy!" she said as their flippers made contact and gripped each other. "My gorgeous boy!"*

"Hey there, good-lookin,'" Gloria said next.

"Gloria. How are you?"

"Better now that you're here." The two of them smiled at one another as Memphis made his way forward.

"Hi, Pa."

"Mumble, is it truly you?"*

"Every last bit of me, Pa."*

"All right, all right!" Noah interrupted. "You can all catch up later. But now, Happyfeet, we need to discuss your reason for coming. I don't see why we should trust you at all." Mumble, forgetting his reunions for the moment, started to feel his blood boil.

"You can trust Mumble," Gloria said defensively.

"You don't know what we're discussing. Besides its one penguin as witness and all of us who are starving and need food." The expression on Noah's face made Mumble sick. He looked as if he'd already won and there wasn't anything more to be said.

Mumble forced himself to calm down and responded, "But if you keep going in this direction you all will be eaten! I know where all the fish are. If you'll follow me we can all feast and avoid _becoming_ a feast."

"But you even said that the leopard seals patrolled the ocean blocking the fish. If we go then a few of us will still become dinner," one Elder pointed out.

"But Teri said… Look, _all_ of the leopard seals await our arrival. We can eat and not be eaten if you'll just listen to what I'm telling you." The Elders looked at one another, communicating through expression and Mumble along with his family anxiously waited for their response.

I'm not sure I believe you," another Elder said. "How do you know all of the leopard seals were in the group you saw?"

"Because I swam under them." His family reacted to this with surprised, curious, and frightened responses.

"Enough!" Noah said loudly. Everyone quieted down. "Still, Happyfeet, how did you know it was _all_ of them?"

"Well… as I swam through the water, I didn't encounter any leopard seal, and there's always at least one.

"Please! I wouldn't ask you to do something like this if it wasn't important." Everyone fell silent. Mumble held his breath as the Elders wordlessly communicated once more. Finally, Noah spoke up.

"We will change our course. But we will _not_ follow you. _You_ shall follow _us_."

"But…" When Mumble caught their expressions, he stopped. They weren't going to change their minds. "Fine. Just make sure you _drastically_ change your course or you'll be forced to follow me."

"Very well. Get back to where you belong," Noah spat.

Mumble and his family stepped aside so as to allow the Elders and Noah to resume their leadership – in more ways than one. Mumble sighed, releasing his anger toward Noah as relief washed over him. He'd done it. Teri would've been proud.

"Mumble," Memphis said suddenly. Mumble turned to face his father. "I'm sorry I wasn't there with you. There's not been one day – _one day_ – that I've done right by you."**

"That's OK, Pa. Don't worry about it."

"Hey, Amigo?"

"What is it Raul?"

"Could you tell us about your adventure?"

"And how you tell these boys apart?" Norma Jean added. All of them laughed as they joined the other penguins.

"I'll tell you the whole story, Raul. Just not today. But I _will_ tell you about the leopard seals plan."


	11. Something Wrong

Something was wrong. The penguins should've been here already. What was going on?

Ethan glanced around. Confused and impatient looks dominated all the leopard seals faces.

"Hey, Kelly," Ethan called out to a fellow seal, who approached. "Why don't you swim under the ice and see what's taking the penguins so long?" Kelly obeyed and returned in record time.

"They changed course!"

"What?" Ethan asked, angry and unbelieving.

"Yeah! They are headed for the fishing grounds."

"And no one's on patrol because everyone's _here_. Oh, this is perfect! Our feast is walking away and none of us are quick enough to get there in time so we can get all the penguins we'd like." A few high pitched squeaks filled the silence that had fallen.

Ethan glanced over and saw two killer whales swimming through the water just a short distance away.

***

(_In the movie, when we see these mighty sea-hunters, they have obtained many injuries from humans. Not these two. They are in perfect health. Sorry for the interruption._)

***

He suddenly thought of something. _Killer whales_ were fast enough to hold the penguins off until the seals got there. And there would certainly be enough penguins for the killer whales to get a share. Smiling at his geniousness, he pointed to the leopard seals in front of him.

"You seven, come with me. The rest of you, wait here for a bit." As the eight seals swam toward the whales, who were now breaching. Ethan hoped they were in a deal-making mood.


	12. Whale Attack

"Happyfeet!" Noah called out over the stopped penguin group. Mumble quickly made his way to the front with is family right behind. They weren't letting him out of their sight for two seconds.

When he reached Noah, Mumble looked at him expectantly.

"Since you are so convinced that no leopard seals reside in these waters as of now, you can be the first in the water. Just as a reassurance to us all, of course"

"Of course," said Mumble. He turned and started toward the water when he realized his family still followed him.

He turned to face them, saying, "Not that I'm not grateful, but you guys can't follow me right now. Go back with everyone else and I'll see you in the water soon." They all started to argue but knew it wasn't going to help anything. In the end, Mumble got his way, as always.

He was about half-way to the water when he caught sight of a killer whale's head emerge just beyond the ice. And he wasn't the only one.

"I thought you said we wouldn't become a feast!" a penguin shouted to him.

"Well, truth be told," Mumble said, turning his head so he'd be heard better, "I wasn't really expecting a _killer whale_." A sudden collective gasp paired with dropped beaks and huge wide eyes, made Mumble think there was more than just the one whale. When he turned back to face his fears, his thoughts were confirmed.

Another killer whale had leapt out of the water and was now moments away from squashing Mumble on the ice, eating him, and then moving on to the others.

Mumble started to run back to the other penguins when he realized that it would be easier for the whale to get at all of them since he was brining it closer. So he stopped and turned to face his fear as his family called out his name desperately.

A sudden… object came up from the ice in front of Mumble, knocking him down with its force and latching on to the whale's throat, knocking it off course. The whale landed half in – half out of the water, and the ice it landed on became an ice berg. The whale slid into the ocean as the object came and joined Mumble.

"Teri!" he called to her, relieved and excited to see her again.

"How's it goin'?" she asked, calm as ever.

"Not bad. I got my family to change course." Teri helped Mumble to his feet before observing all of the penguins who stood before her, frozen with fear.

"So I see," she remarked. "I'm proud of you."

"I knew you would be."

"Then you know me very well."

"Not well enough, I'm afraid. What are you doing here? You didn't follow me, did you?" Mumble paused, looking at Teri but not focusing on her. He meditated on his trip from the breathing hole where he'd left Teri to now. Then it hit him. "No, you couldn't have followed me because I would've noticed the seal breathing holes, and there were none."

Teri smiled slightly. "No, I didn't follow you under the ice… or at all for that matter. I was on my way back home when I realized I had to know if you had been successful in convincing your family to go another way. And I also had a feeling that something bad was going to happen to you. I'm glad I listened to it." Mumble was about to say something more when they both noticed the whale coming back for revenge… and probably a meal.

Teri, again, attacked the throat and Mumble went for the nose. The whale now confused and in pain, shook its head in hopes of being released, but the friends held on.

Mumble's family, in shock at first from the whale and then from Mumble talking in a friendly way to a leopard seal, shook themselves and prepared to help Mumble.

"Come on!" Memphis called out to all of the penguins. "We need to help Mumble!" He, Norma Jean, Gloria, and the Amigos all started toward the whales, trying to decide where the best place for attack would be. But they didn't hear anyone else following. They stopped and turned to see everyone just watching.

"What are you all doing?" Gloria asked. "How are we supposed to eat if we don't get rid of this monster? We need to work together in order to get rid of it so we can continue living." But no one moved.

_Those cowards_! Gloria thought, glaring at them. But, then again, maybe they were the smarter ones. No one would know until someone acted.

Mumble's family ran toward the whales without having to think twice. The Amigos started on the whale that hadn't had any attackers yet while Memphis, Norma Jean, and Gloria leapt onto the other whale where Mumble and the seal had already started their attack.


	13. Joining Forces

"No way," said Ethan, as he observed the scene in front of him. A handful of _penguins_ were attacking the _killer whales_.

"Is it just me, or is something wrong with this picture?" he asked Kelly, who didn't respond. He returned his attention to the fight, which got weirder. A leopard seal could be seen hanging onto one of the whale's throats. At first, Ethan wondered who it could possibly be since everyone was with him. Then he understood.

It was Teri. She wasn't there with all of them. Not to mention she had become friends with a penguin recently. It was most likely thanks to her that they weren't stuffing themselves now. But he wasn't the only one to see her.

"Why is Teri fighting the whales too? Shouldn't she be with us?" Ethan had hoped no one would see Teri; he didn't want her ostracized because of her actions… and he admired her. He had from the first day he'd laid eyes on her, swimming gracefully through the water without a care in the world.

Now, since she had been spotted, he had to save her _and_ her reputation. He did some quick-thinking and came up with something.

"She doesn't want the whales to eat the penguin we've worked so hard for," he explained, hoping he sounded convincing. The seals all exchanged glances and a few even shrugged.

"I agree with Teri," Ethan continued when he saw that no one completely disagreed. The others nodded and Ethan knew what had to come from this.

"Let's go, guys! Let's claim what's rightfully ours!" With many cries, the seals all started toward the whales. Half the seals attacked one whale while the other half attacked the whale next to the first, biting anywhere they could and swimming hard at them only to run into them in hopes of inflicting confusion and diverting their attention so the others could accomplish more damage without the whales fighting back. When the other penguins saw that there _might_ be a chance of victory, they all joined in as well – every single one of them.

It soon became apparent that the whales wouldn't be able to win. They were easily outnumbered, and had indeed been so from the beginning, but all the strength and maneuverability from the seals and penguins wasn't likely to be matched anytime soon.

They shook off what animals they could and quickly slid into the ocean. They started to swim away and at first their attackers didn't realize it was a retreat. When they did, they released their various grips and cheers could be heard by the whales, who yearned to find anyone and tell how the impossible happened. Leopard seals and emperor penguins had joined forces.


	14. Final Goodbye

The last leopard seal leapt up onto the ice so everyone was now together. They all congratulated each other, even leopard seal to penguin and penguin to leopard seal. But then reality sank in and everyone quieted down, refusing to meet anyone's eyes.

Mumble and Teri looked sadly at one another. None of their friends or family could overcome their differences and get along like they had learned to do. They both also knew they would be unable to convince their kinds to try and get along. The differences were too vast for all of them.

One of the leopard seals suddenly sighed in frustration. "You all know of course," he said in a voice full of wisdom and regret, "we drove away those whales by working together. We can't eat the very creatures that helped us win after this." All of the seals saw the truth in this, but none of them felt upset or a sense of loss for not getting a feast, as Teri and Mumble had feared.

Ethan then said, "Fine. We won't eat you today. But by tomorrow, all bets are off and we're gonna hunt you again."

"OK, but promise you won't come up with any more plans to eat more than three of us at once," Mumble said to the admiration of all the penguins. None of them would've had the guts to say something like that, especially to a leopard seal.

"Deal," all the leopard seals agreed in unison. Silence fell once more. All of the seals suddenly claimed to be starving and so slid into the ocean to go search for food, save for Teri and Ethan.

Ethan turned to Mumble and said, "You know, your dancing is pretty cool. We should… get together again. Yeah, have a party or something and watch you dance. The other seals would like it too." Teri smiled at Ethan which made him look extremely pleased with himself. "Anyway, see you around." He slid into the ocean, leaving Teri and Mumble alone. She turned to Mumble with not only his attention directed on her, but all the penguins'.

"I wouldn't worry too much about being eaten by one of us for a while. It's not every day that we join forces and conquer something bigger than ourselves. Everyone's changed because of this experience. One way or another, we've all changed." The two friends looked at one another for a time.

Mumble broke the silence with, "Will I ever see you again?"

"Probably. But just in passing. If you ever want to talk, though, you know where to find me. I'll see you around, Feathers."

"Bye Teri." She was about to join the other leopard seals when she glanced back at all the penguins.

"You know," she said, "no one's stopping you. You all have a day of fishing without fear of being hunted. I honestly don't know what you're waiting for." Then she was gone.

Mumble turned to his family and friends.

"What _are_ you waiting for? Let's go catch some fish!" All of the penguins emitted cheers and dove eagerly into the ocean, Mumble and his family among them.

Many schools of fish swam in the water, but they didn't stand a chance against the scores of penguins and leopard seals who feasted like they never had before.

Mumble searched earnestly for Teri, but he didn't see her anywhere. Grief tugged at his heart as he thought of how little he and Teri would see of each other.

Gloria swam in front of him then, holding a fish in her beak.

"Here," she said around it. "You can have it." Mumble smiled as he took the fish.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked, nuzzling him.

"Nothing." Mumble nuzzled her in return.

"Then come on. Let's catch some of what you worked so hard to get to us."

As Mumble swam with her, he moved from one chapter of his life to another; leaving behind a friend as he joined others to continue to live out his life with those whom he loved by his side.

Teri, who was watching him from under the ice, smiled. After observing her friend a while longer to ensure she would always remember his appearance, she started back for home… with Ethan beside her.


End file.
